fredericks



Patented Nov. 15, 1887.

(No Model.)

WITNESSES:

(No Model.) f2 Sheets-Sheet 2. C. A. FREDERICKS. REFRIGERATOR BUILDING.

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INVBNTOR;

l l 1 l l l T.

By Attorney.

N. PEHIS, Fhula-Lllhngmvpher, Washngiun, D. C.

WVFNESSES;

UNITED STATI-:s

PATENT OFFICE.,

CHRISTIAN A. FREDERIGKS, OF BROOKLYN, YORK. I

REFRIGERATOR-BUILDING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 373,228, dated November15, 1887.

Application filed Api-n 1s. ism.

'To all whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN A. FREDER- IoKs, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Brooklyn, Kings county,-New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerator-Buildings,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to means for refrigerating rooms or chambers,either for freezing articles contained therein or for simplecoldstorage; and the two leading objects of my invention are, rst,economy in the use of ice employed as a refrigerant, and, second,uniformity of temperature within the refrigerating room or chamber atall levels, regardless of the height of the chamber.

In carrying out my invention I usually employ a mixture of ice and saltas a refrigerant, although I do not limit myself strictly to thismixture. This refrigerant is placed in vessels, usually long cylindricalvessels of sheet metal, and these are placed in a close reservoir orreservoirs, usually arranged along one or more sides of the storage-roomandv extending from iioor to ceiling. The vessels extend up through theceiling of the storage-room and the lloor of the charging-room above,for convenience of lling or charging them. The close reservoir-for itmay be in one or continuous-I will call, for convenience, the cold-airreservoir. Cold dry air is admitted to the storage-room from vthisreservoir at the ceiling of the roomV through regulated apertures. Toinsure a proper circulation, air-ducts lead from the ceiling or upperpart of the room up into the charging-room above, and thence down againinto the cold-air reservoir. Provision is also made for taking air at avery low temperature from the bottom or lower part of the cold-airreservoir for special purposes, as will be hereinafter explained. VVThecold-air reservoir is narrow and contracted, and is shielded on allsides Aby non-conducting or heat-intercepting material, in order thatthe air within it may be kept at a very low temperature, and underordinary conditions the A cold air is drawn only from the top or upperpart of the reservoir through valved apertures. When these apertures areclosed, circulation ceases substantially, and the low temperature withinthe cold-air reservoir prevents the wasting away of the ice. As soon asthe Serial No. 235,185. (No model.)

circulation is re-established the ice begin-s to A melt and the cold airbegins' to flow from the reservoirinto the room. I find that byintroducing the cold dry air at several points in the ceiling or nearthe ceiling the air may be brought to a substantially uniformtemperature at all levels in the room. This is very important,particularly where the room is to be employed for storing carcasses ofbeef, mutton, &c.

In the drawings which serve to illustrate my invention I have shown itapplied to a room suited for preserving beef and other carcasses, thearrangement being that which I prefer for this purpose.

Figure 1 is a vertical section of the refrigerator, the plane of thesection being indicated by line l l in Fig. 3. Fig. 2 is a similarsection of the refrigerator, the plane of the section beingindicated byline2 2in Fig. 3. Fig.- 3 is a sectional plan, the plane of the sectionbeing indicated by line 3 3 in Fig. l. Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectionalView illustrating a slightvariation in the arrangement of the coldairreservoir with respect to the storage and charging rooms.

A represents the walls, and B the ceiling, of the refrigerator-room.These will b of suitable heat-intercepting material-as, for example, twotight walls filled in between with sawdust. AOn three sides of the roomis formed a cold-air reservoir, O. This may be formed conveniently bybuilding within the room a heat-intercepting wall or partition, D,standing out from the walls A far enough to form a chamber or reservoirwide enough to receive the long sheet-metal vessels or refrigerantholders E. The partition extends from floor to ceiling, and the vesselsE also, the mouths or upper ends of the latter extending through theceiling Vinto the charging-room F above, where they are provided withsuitable covers,

e. At thebottom of the cold-air reservoir G' is placed a pan, c, tocatch the drip from the vessels E,and this drip may flow away through atrapped outlet, a. The lower ends ofthe vessels E may be provided withgratings or screens to permit the water to ow out and yet retain theice; but I nd it sufficient to support their open lower ends on a beamor block of wood, b, not quite wide enough toclosetheir bottoms. Eachvessel is provided with a sliding door or IOO wicket, d, in order thattheir interiors may be conveniently reached for cleaning, and in orderthat these wickets may be reached from inside the room, doors g,opposite to them,are provided in the wall or partition D.

Air-ducts 7a, arranged in the heat-intercepting partition of theceiling, lead from the upper part or top of the deep cold-air reservoirC out and open into the storage-room at the ceiling, each duct-outletbeing provided with a hinged closingvalve, h', whereby the outlet ofsaid duct may be wholly or partially closed, if desired. Air ducts G,for effecting the proper circulation, lead from openings fin the ceilingup into the charging-room, thence over to near the walls, and thencedown through the ceiling into the coldair reservoir. I usually extendthe ducts G up about siX feet in the room F, so that the men in chargingmay not be hindered by them.

W'here beef carcasses, for example, are to be kept in the room, theoperation is somewhat as follows: First, the ice is delivered on theiioor ofthe charging-room (which is made water-tight) and broken up. Thevessels E are charged with ice and salt and the covers e placed on them.The temperature in the coldair reservoir C soon falls nearly to zero ifthe circulation is stopped by closing valves h. The ice in the vessels Ewill also cease to melt under these conditions, and will remain frozenalmost indefinitely. The valves h should now be opened and circulationbetween the room and the upper part of the cold-air reservoirestablished. The air from the room will flow out through the ducts G andenter the reservoir C. The contraction produced by the cooling of theair at the end of the duct entering the reservoir will cause a currentto iiow through the duct G from the room to the reservoir, and this willcause the cold air from the upper part of the reservoir to flow throughducts h into the room. The air from the latter ducts slowly descends,diffusing itself through the room, until in a short time the temperaturein the room will fall to from 20o to 24 Fahrenheit. Now, the carcassesare admitted and hung up, and the heat in these will usually raise thetemperature to about 32o to 38 Fahrenheit. If it should rise too high,the valves h should be opened toadmit more cold air until thetemperature falls to the required point. The valves h may be so set asto regulate the temperature as desired,and to maintain it uniform, orapproximately so. It will be found, also, that the temperature standsabout the same in all parts of the room-the same near the ceiling asnear the door. In the cold-air reservoir, however, the temperature willbe lowest at the bottom, and I find that after the carcasses in the roomhave been cooled through and a uniform temperature of about 32Fahrenheit has been established in the room, the ice on therefrigerant-vessels will cease or nearly cease to melt, and that no dripwill reach the drip-pan c below.

NVhenever a new charge of carcasses is placed in the room, however, andair-circulation is established, the ice will again begin to melt.

By this apparatus I am enabled to effect refrigeration with a greatsaving of ice over the old methods; but it is essential that the Wallsand partitions be of good heat-intercepting material, and be madewater-tight. The doors g should also be kept tightly closed.

If intense cold be required to freeze articles placed near the door,this can be effected by opening some of the doors g and allowing the airat a temperature of 3o to 4 Fahrenheit to y flow into the room.

I have shown a good and economical arrangement for refrigerativepurposes; but I do not wish to limit myself in every respect to theconstruction shown. In some respects the coldair reservoir C need onlybe at one side of the room, and this is especially the case where theroom is long and narrow; or there might be two such reservoirs onopposite sides of the room; or if the room were quite large thereservoir G might be in the middle of the room. I prefer to make thevessels E cylindrical in form; but this is not essential.

In order that the ducts G may not enter the cold-air reservoir and theroom at or near the same points where the ducts h enter them, Igenerally prefer to arrange these ducts somewhat as seen in Fig. 3. Thenumber of ducts G and h will be governed by the size and form of theroom, as will also the number of the vesselsE employed. i t t X is thedoor of the refrigerator-room, and Y are windows. These latter I providewith three glazed sashes, in order to intercept the heat.

In some cases I may extend the cold-air reservoir C up above the ceilingof the storageroom, and may provide means for taking cold air from itstop and from a point about at the level of the ceiling of thestorage-room. To effect this I may employ the construction illustratedin Fig. 4. In this construction I extend the cold-air reservoir C upinto the charging-room F any distance required-say six feet, forexample. I then lead a duct, h, from its top down through the floor ofroom F and ceiling of the storage-room and provide its mouth orinletwith a closing-valve, h. So far as described this would produce the sameresults as the construction heretofore described; butv in order that Imay admit air into the storage-room at its ceiling from a lower point inthe reservoir also, and thus get air at a lower temperature, I provideanother duct, h3, leading from the reservoir C at about the level of theceiling of the storage-room, which duct taps duct h2. At the junction ofducts h2 and ha, I provide a valve, j, which may be turned so as toclose either duct, but leave the other duct open.

If Iwish to operate as described with reference to Figs. l, 2, and 3, Iturn valvejso asto close the lower duct, h3; but if the exigenciesrequire that the storage-room shall be quickly IOS IZO

cooled I turn' valve j so as to close duct h and permit colder air fromthe lower duct to enter the room. Of course the ducts h2 and 7a3 mightbe separate ducts, and be each provided with a valve; but a two-wayvalve, like that described, is perhaps more convenient. Thecirculation-ductsG will be the same as before described with respect toFigs. l to 3. p

Any means of arresting the circulation of air through the ducts may beemployed-as, for example, dampers in said ducts, like those commonlyemployed in stove-pipes and flues. It is only necessary to stop thepassage through the ductin order to arrest the circulation of air.

Having thus described my invention, I clain1 1. A refrigeratingapparatus consisting of a storage-room or chambers for the reception ofthe thing to be kept cold, a tight cold-air reservoir with heatintercepting walls, a vessel with tight or non-apertured walls for therefrigerant, arranged in said cold-air reservoir, said cold-airreservoir communicating with the room at the ceiling thereof, a duct, G,leading from the room to the cold-air reservoir to effect the propercirculation, and means, substantially as described, for arresting thecirculation of airthrough the ducts.

2. A refrigerating apparatus consisting of va storage-room, a -tightcold-air reservoir, C,

in said room provided with heat-intercepting walls and extending to theceiling of said room, a series of deep vessels,4 E, arranged in saidcold-air reservoir and extending through the ceilingof saidstorage-room,coldair ducts leading from the upper part of said cold-airreservoir into the storage-roomv at or near its ceiling, ducts G,leading from the upper part of said room to the cold-air reservoir toeffect the proper circulation, and means, substantially as described,for arresting the circulation of air through said ducts.

3. The combination, with the main storageroom provided with heatintercepting walls and the charging -room above it, of a tight cold-airreservoir, C, Within or partly within said storage-room, a deep vessel,E, for the refrigerant, arranged in said cold-air reservoir, and itsupper end or mouth entering into the charging-room, said cold-airreservoir communicating with the storage-room at its upper part or nearits ceiling, an air-duct,G,ex tending from the upperpart of thestorageroom up into the charging room and thence down into the cold-airreservoir, and means, substantially as described, for arresting thecirculation' of air through said ducts.

4. The combination, with a storage-room of a refrigerating apparatus, ofa tight cold-air reservoir, C, having two cold-air delivery-ductsleading from it at different levels and both opening into saidstorage-room at its ceiling,

means, substantially as described, for closing either one of these ductsand opening the other, a duct, G, leading from the ceiling of the saidstorage-room up outside of said room and into the top of said reservoirC, means for closing the same, and a vessel, E, with tight walls tocontain the refrigerant, arranged in said reservoir C, whereby cold airof different degrees of temperature may be admitted to the room at will.A

5. The combination,with a storage-room of a refrigerating apparatus, ofa tight cold-air reservoir,a tight vessel to contain the refrigerant,arranged in said reservoir, a duct leading from said room near itsceiling to the top of said reservoir to convey air from the room to thereservoir, and a cold-air duct leading from said reservoir to thestorage-room and opening into same at its ceiling, whereby dry cold airis supplied to the room at its upper part only,

as set forth.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of twosubscribing Witnesses.

Witnesses:

HENRY CoNNE'rT, J. L. OAPLINGER.

